Nvidia pares Thursday gains after spiking on Citi analyst's strong outlook
- Nvidia stock trimmed gains Friday after a strong showing on the back of Citigroup's positive note on Thursday.
- Analyst Atif Malik's EPS estimates are 2%-5% ahead of street estimates, which implies Nvidia could post a $2.94 EPS figure when the company reports earnings on February 11.
- Nvidia now boasts 30 Buy ratings, 5 hold ratings, and just 4 Sell ratings from analysts.
Shares of Nvidia trimmed gains Friday after surging some 4.3% Thursday on a strong outlook from Citigroup. The stock was down around 1% early Friday afternoon.
Citigroup analyst Atif Malik said in a note that Nvidia's stock has lagged its chip manufacturing peers and could offer upside potential ahead of next week's virtual CES conference.
Nvidia was added to Citi's "Catalyst Watch List" and the bank maintained its $600 price target.
Malik noted Nvidia has fallen over 15% from its early November high of over $580 per share, while the iShares semiconductor index SOXX has gained over 24% during the same period.
Citi expects hyperscale-led data center demand recovery in the first half of 2021 and sustained PC gaming demand to drive an EPS boost.
Their analysts' EPS estimates for Nvidia remain 2%-5% above street projections.
That's worth noting, as Street analysts already expect Nvidia to grow its earnings by 48% in the January quarter to $2.80 per share. That's on top of 55% year-over-year sales growth which will see Nvidia closing on the $5 billion revenue mark for the quarter.
This news comes just weeks after Wells Fargo boosted their price target for the chip manufacturer to $625 per share from $600 per share.
As of Friday, Nvidia boasted 30 Buy ratings, 5 Hold ratings, and just 4 Sell ratings from analysts, per MarketBeat.
Shares of Nvidia are down over 1% Friday afternoon, trading at $529.07 per share as of 12:55pm E.T.